GATINEAU — The Legault government Thursday promised to hire 800 specialists to boost early detection and diagnosis of children with special needs.

The hires, to be accompanied by a new province-wide early detection website, will cost between $70 million and $90 million over the next two years, Premier François Legault said at a news conference wrapping up a two-day Coalition Avenir Québec party caucus in the Outaouais region.

He was accompanied by junior health minister Lionel Carmant, a specialist on the issue.

“It’s important to act early,” Legault said. “Any services we can provide before the age of six are more efficient than those given after.

“A total of 27 per cent of children display certain learning difficulties before they arrive in school. The important thing is to identify the problem.”

The issue was a key CAQ election promise and dealing with the issue was one of the reasons Carmant, a world-class neurologist in brain and child development, got into politics.

At the news conference, Carmant said he was “overjoyed to announce his vision was becoming government policy. He said the program will aid about 80,000 children a year.

Legault and Carmant insisted the health care system will come up with the specialists they promised despite chronic shortages in many fields. Carmant noted some doctors currently working in the private sector will jump at the chance to work in the public.

The announcement was accompanied by the creation of a new website where parents can seek information on early detection and even enter the symptoms of their children to see if a potential problem exists.

Such a platform was launched at Ste-Justine Hospital — where Carmant used to work — and later integrated into two university hospital networks.

The system has helped cut the times before action is taken from two years to a few months and now will be extended to cover 31 health centres across the province.

The ministers made the announcement at the end of a caucus to prepare for next week’s resumption of work at the National Assembly.

While most of the caucus focused on legislation the government will present this winter, a two-hour session was held Thursday to school MNAs on how to avoid corruption.

The hot-button issue remains the CAQ’s soon-to-be presented bill barring authority figures including judges, police officers and elementary and high school teachers, from wearing religious symbols such as a hjjab or kippah.

While the CAQ government has not wavered in its decision to present the bill this winter, a large debate took place behind closed doors on whether the government should include an acquired rights or grandfather clause for workers already working.

Caucus sources reveal that roughly 80 per cent of CAQ MNAs oppose the idea, while 20 per cent want the clause.

“What happens in caucus stays in caucus, just like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette told reporters, refusing to confirm the 80-per-cent figure.

“Yes we are having discussions. It’s healthy in a party to discuss. In the coming weeks, I will table a bill in the National Assembly enacting what we promised in the election campaign.

“We are able to debate together and express different points of view. At the end of the day, everybody will be going in one direction.”

It’s a tricky policy issue. Polls show that Quebecers favour the CAQ’s ban on symbols but are less supportive of the idea of punishing workers who refuse to comply.

Legault himself said Wednesday that he does not relish the prospect of having to fire or transfer an employee who refuses to drop their symbols.

Asked again about the decision at his news conference, Legault remained coy.

“There are pros and there are cons,” he said. “I have not made a decision.

“Nothing is simple in life. We look at the pros and cons and we’ll get back to you in a few weeks with the bill.”

One theory is that Legault is waiting before making his decision — possibly in the hopes of using it as a bargaining chip to woo the support of some of the opposition parties. He said Wednesday he does not expect the bill to pass without a hitch.

The Parti Québécois — which supports the ban but wants the clause – might prove to be the government’s friend, but that would require a compromise.

It’s unclear what side of the fence the Liberals will be on. Although the Liberals’ standing position is against any ban, a debate has started internally with some feeling the party should back the idea as a way to woo back francophone nationalist votes.

The debate on the clause came on the same week as it was revealed the government has been trying to gather data on the exact number of public servants who actually wear symbols such as the hijab or kippah.

Jolin-Barrette’s comment on Vegas drew a few laughs. The CAQ caucus is being held in a hotel immediately next to the massive Gatineau casino.

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